By CLARE MARIE CELANO
Correspondent
People who are interested in helping to fight hunger around the world are invited to participate in the Freehold Area CROP Walk on Oct.16 and make a difference.
The Freehold Area CROP Walk is organized by the Freehold Clergy Association, according to Pat Medley, pastor, who is coordinating the event. The host site will be St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 33 Throckmorton St., Freehold Borough.
The Freehold Clergy Association includes representatives of Roman Catholic, Protestant, Jewish and Muslim congregations, as well as the chaplaincy of CentraState Healthcare System, Freehold Township.
“Registration for the walk will be held at 1:30 p.m. and the walk will begin at 2 p.m. Walkers are asked to bring their financial pledges and a jar of peanut butter for our local food pantry,” Medley said.
The pastor said she has been participating in or providing leadership to CROP walks since 1975.
“I love CROP walks because in this fractured world it is a fantastic thing when all kinds of people gather to help neighbors in need around the world,” Medley said. “With global warming, we see more people homeless because of fires, hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding, and the refugee crisis uproots people around the world from homes where they have lived for generations. People are still hungry or struggling to put food on the table here and around the world in 2016.”
Medley said 75 percent of the money raised by the Freehold walk will go wherever it is needed most and 25 percent of the proceeds will be returned to local food pantries.
“Hunger affects more than one billion people worldwide,” the pastor said. “One in 10 people lacks clean drinking water and one in three people lack access to sanitation. These things are deadly.”
Medley said there are 21.3 million refugees and 65.3 million displaced persons in the world at the present time.
She said money raised through CROP walks provides sustainable self-help, development, disaster relief and refugee assistance around the world, and works to eradicate hunger and poverty and to promote peace and justice through collaboration with partners in more than 80 nations.
“CROP walks create hope with micro-loans to fund new small family businesses and fish farms, and 25 percent of our proceeds are returned to Freehold Area Open Door and to Joshua House Ministries in Farmingdale, our local food pantries, to help us to meet hunger needs right here at home,” Medley said.
Proceeds returned locally have ranged from $1,397 in 2009, to $2,718 in 2014, to $2,449 in 2015.
Medley said a 3-mile walk and a mini-walk route will be marked out in Freehold Borough and a map of the routes will be provided at registration.
“Walking changes us, as we identify more with those in other countries who must walk long distances for water, food or firewood every day, but the pledges we raise change the world, so we ask people to do their best,” Medley said.
To register as a walker and raise funds online, visit www.crophungerwalk.org, scroll down and enter Freehold, NJ, in the walk search, and click on Freehold. Register and email family members and friends to request support.
CROP walk forms and promotional materials are available at Hope Lutheran Church, 211 Elton-Adelphia Road, Freehold Township, from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. For more information, call 732-822-0711 or email [email protected]